NON-REFOULEMENT: A HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE ON ENVIRONMENTAL MIGRATION FROM SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES

Climate change threatens to drive significant migration from Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where hundreds of thousands are at risk of internal displacement and many are already moving, both internally and internationally. However, when international borders are crossed, environmental migrants fleeing the adverse effects of climate change are not yet automatically afforded legal protection under international law. The international law principle of non-refoulement offers a legal pathway to fill this legal protection gap for environmental migrants, but only if threshold requirements are met on a case-by-case basis. Importantly, the principle of the best interests of the child further offers a potential pathway to provide protection to migrant children affected by climate change.
INTRODUCTION Environmental degradation and natural disasters are among the most significant contemporary drivers of global movement. (1) It is estimated that environmental disasters internally displaced 228 million people between 2008 [...]